Seven Things To Take Note Of In The IKEA 2015 Australia Catalogue

IKEA’s 2015 catalogue is out online now (the print version hits stores on 1 September). Here are seven new developments that are worth highlighting — including an unexpected reprieve for one supposedly cancelled line.

As well as being viewable online in a fully searchable form, you can get the catalogue as an iOS or Android app. If you’ve ever seen an IKEA catalogue before, the format will be familiar: glossy photography showing off entire rooms furnished with IKEA furniture at the front and with new products highlighted, more detailed listings sorted by category at the back.

While once the catalogue might fairly have claimed to list almost everything in the store, that’s no longer the case — a visit to the store or the web site will highlight lots of stuff that simply isn’t featured, especially in the marketplace. For all that, the catalogue does reveal some items of interest to bargain-minded IKEA shoppers. Here are seven to start with.

(Note: this commentary is based on the East Coast IKEA stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. WA and SA are run separately — we’d expect most details to be similar but some prices, in particular, might vary.)

1. The Expedit bookshelf is officially dead


We’ve known since February that the iconic Expedit bookcase had been canned, and the 2015 catalogue makes it official: its replacement, the Kallax, is the only cube-like bookcase in sight. Indeed, if you look up Expedit on the site, you’re only shown Kallax options.

2. The Galant lives!


While the Expedit has moved on, the same hasn’t happened just yet for another item on the chopping block, the Galant desk. While reports suggested it would be replaced with the similar Bekant line by October, it still features in the catalogue, and there’s even been a price reduction — the standard model is down from $279 to $199. That price cut suggests it may well be gone in 2016 and we’re just seeing a run-out of the final stock, but for now the Galant continues down under.

3. A new standing desk


There are lots of ways to convert IKEA gear into a standing desk. For compact home situations, the PS2014 Standing Laptop Station, priced at $69, is an interesting alternative. It’s arguably too small to use as a permanent desk, but for storage and occasional standing use, it could answer well.
PS2014 Standing Laptop Station $69

4. No sales coupons


For bargain-minded shoppers, one attraction of the IKEA catalogue was the listing of specials that would occur on fixed dates throughout the year. There’s no sign of those in this year’s catalogue (at least in online form). However . . .

5. Sales are still happening


Promotion of sales appears to have been shifted to the web sites for each individual store, as well as the regular IKEA Family mailouts. We’re promised a special a day between 1 and 7 September, which is the week the 2015 catalogue launches.

6. New stores coming


We’re told that new stores will be opening in Marsden Park in Sydney’s north-west in June 2015 and in Canberra in “late” 2015. IKEA also has acquired a site for a second store in Brisbane, but that’s evidently a little further off.

7. No price rises for a year


IKEA guarantees that prices for items listed in the catalogue won’t go up before 11 August 2015. Australians still pay high prices for IKEA relative to other countries, but at least that policy means you can plan your purchases with some certainty.


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